Chapter 200

"Old genius?!"

Hearing this long-lost title.

Jiang Ye was slightly stunned.

This sharp-tongued old man really hadn't changed a bit; even when praising someone, he had to use this tone that made one feel completely uncomfortable.

Although everyone felt a bit curious about Elder Zhong calling Jiang Ye aside alone, no one asked any questions.

Too many things had happened tonight, and everyone had a pile of messes waiting to be cleaned up weighing on their hearts.

Qin Lie carefully supported Luo Song's body as he stood up, nodded slightly at Jiang Ye, and said in a hoarse and serious voice: "Elder Jiang, I'll take the old man back first!"

"Mm."

Jiang Ye nodded slightly, watching them walk further and further away along the mountain path at the edge of the ruins.

Soon, only Jiang Ye and Elder Zhong were left on the peak.

The night wind poured in from the gap in the mountain body that had been sliced away, emitting a low, wailing sound, blowing the rubble and debris all over the ground with a rustling noise.

"Elder Zhong..."

Jiang Ye walked forward slowly, about to speak.

Elder Zhong's gaze fell upon him, looking him up and down, and a meaningful smile tugged at his wrinkled old face as he laughed in a hoarse voice:

"To have broken through to the Divine Qi Realm in such a short time, you truly live up to your name, old genius."

Jiang Ye was stunned again.

It was clearly a compliment, so why did it feel so strange coming from this sharp-tongued old man's mouth?

Elder Zhong didn't give him time to ponder his wording; he coughed twice and continued:

"Old genius, I asked you to stay because there is a matter I need you to handle."

"That Primordial Realm martial artist injured by little Luo must not be allowed to escape..."

As he spoke, he began to cough violently, his entire body heaving intensely with each cough.

Along with his wheezing, that chilling aura he had been desperately suppressing began to fluctuate like a tide, each wave causing an instinctive palpitation in Jiang Ye's heart and making the hair on his back stand on end.

Jiang Ye subconsciously took two steps back, looking at the incessantly coughing Elder Zhong, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

It seemed the old man's physical condition was indeed terrible to the extreme.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until the Seven Kill Sect demons had collapsed the Profound Heaven Hall before finally making a move.

After a good while.

Elder Zhong's coughing finally subsided, and that chilling aura was suppressed back down by him, shrinking deep into his body and no longer surging.

He breathed heavily, raised his eyelids to look at Jiang Ye, and self-deprecatingly laughed in a hoarse voice:

"You saw it too—this old bag of bones of mine no longer has the strength to toss about."

Jiang Ye said in a deep, solemn voice: "Elder Zhong, that person is a Primordial Realm martial artist. Even if he was severely injured by the Peak Master with all his might, his foundation is far beyond the Divine Qi Realm..."

Elder Zhong steadied the Qi within his body and coughed again in a hoarse voice:

"Old genius, I believe in your strength."

A smile of unknown meaning appeared on his face:

"The killing intent nurtured within that Primordial Realm martial artist is more than ten times that of those Divine Qi Realm martial artists."

Hearing this, Jiang Ye's pupils shrank violently, and a stormy sea surged in his heart.

This old man knew he could nurture killing intent from those demons?!

He had never revealed the secret of the "Seven Kill Scripture" in front of anyone; even Yang Han didn't know he had already mastered this secret technique.

Yet Elder Zhong had pointed it out in a single sentence...

Just how many things did this sharp-tongued old man hide that he didn't know about?

But now was not the time to get to the bottom of it.

Jiang Ye suppressed the shock in his heart and said in a deep voice: "Even if I want to pursue him, that person has been fleeing for some time, and his tracks are hard to find. Where am I supposed to go to find him..."

"His tracks are not hard to find."

Elder Zhong gave a hoarse, dry laugh and stretched out a finger as old as a withered branch to wipe a smear of blood that hadn't yet dried on the ground.

That was the blood left behind when Luo Song had just fallen to the ground.

And within this blood, there was both Luo Song's blood and the blood of the Seven Kill Sect demons mixed in.

Elder Zhong ground that mixed blood on his fingertip, looked up at Jiang Ye, and said: "Spread your palm!"

Jiang Ye hesitated for a moment, then slowly spread his right palm.

Elder Zhong stretched out that blood-stained finger and drew a peculiar symbol on Jiang Ye's palm, stroke by stroke.

The symbol's strokes were complex, resembling some kind of ancient seal script, and the moment it touched his skin, it seeped into his flesh and blood like a living thing, leaving no wound, no bloodstain, only a dark red mark so faint it was almost invisible.

The next instant.

A strange and clear perception rose from his palm.

It was a cold and violent pull, as if someone had tied an invisible thread inside his palm, and the other end of the thread was pointing far away toward the southwest.

"How is it? You can find him now, right."

Elder Zhong said in a hoarse voice.

"What kind of method is this..."

Jiang Ye looked at the dark red mark on his palm, his face full of shock.

A method like this, using blood as a guide to track across space, was truly unheard of.

Elder Zhong withdrew his finger and went into another fit of violent coughing, his withered, thin frame swaying back and forth.

He finally caught his breath and urged in a raspy voice:

"Don't dawdle. While he is still carrying the wounds left by little Luo, hurry up."

Jiang Ye took a deep breath and slowly clenched his right hand, which was marked with the blood-colored symbol.

That black-robed Primordial Realm martial artist had been severely injured by Luo Song; strike while the iron is hot.

Now was indeed the best time to get rid of him.

If he could catch up and kill him, it would not only eliminate his threat to the Tianqing Sect but also allow him to refine all the killing intent accumulated within him over the years in one go.

He turned to leave, but suddenly thought of something, paused his steps, and looked back at Elder Zhong:

"By the way, Elder Zhong, what about the corpse of the other Primordial Realm martial artist..."

Elder Zhong pointed to the section of the mountain in the distance that had been wiped away out of thin air and said indifferently:

"It's been too long since I made a move; I didn't control it well and hit a bit too hard. I just beat him into air."

Jiang Ye looked in the direction Elder Zhong was pointing; under the moonlight, that section still glowed with a faint, cold light.

He looked at the gap where even the rock had been completely crushed into nothingness, a flash of shock crossing his eyes first.

No way.

What do you mean "beat him into air"...

That was a Primordial Realm martial artist.

Just what kind of strength does this old man have?

After Jiang Ye was shocked for a moment.

A flash of regret surged up.

A Primordial Realm martial artist, just like that, was slapped away by this old man, not even leaving a wisp of killing intent for him; it was simply a waste of a heavenly treasure.

He looked at Elder Zhong, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

In the end, he just shook his head helplessly, tapped his foot hard, and his figure, like a gray shadow merging into the night, sped away toward the southwest.

In a dense forest outside Yunling Prefecture.

"Hah... hah..."

A figure lay half-reclined under a large tree, breathing heavily.

It was none other than the Primordial Realm martial artist who had been severely injured by Luo Song and escaped from Thick Earth Peak.

He circulated his pale blue Primordial Divine Qi to repair his injuries, his scarlet eyes full of suspicion and resentment.

Even now, he still couldn't figure out how Tan Lang's aura had disappeared.

"Could it be that this small Tianqing Sect still hides an unknown foundation..."

The black-robed man gritted his teeth and muttered to himself.

Tonight's operation could be called a huge failure.

He didn't know how many of the Divine Qi Realm martial artists under him had died, but it was certainly not a small number.

Tan Lang's life or death was also unknown.

The only gain was that several of the Tianqing Sect's Divine Qi Realm martial artists had extraordinary strength, and Black Star had very likely died at their hands.

The possibility of the "Demon-Suppressing Bead" falling into their hands was not low.

"Let's heal first."

After pondering for a moment, the black-robed man suppressed the chaotic thoughts in his heart and began to heal with all his might.

He had really been injured quite heavily by Luo Song this time, with several places broken open by fire-attribute Divine Qi.

Especially the large hole in his abdomen.

If this kind of injury had happened to another Divine Qi Realm martial artist, they would have died long ago.

It was only because a Primordial Realm martial artist's vitality was far beyond that of ordinary people that he could still hold on.

Time passed bit by bit.

The pale blue Primordial Divine Qi around the black-robed man flowed slowly like a thin stream, smoothing out the hidden injuries caused by Luo Song's blasts one by one.

The wound on his abdomen no longer seeped blood, and the meridians in his body eroded by the fire poison gradually recovered their flow under the nourishment of the Primordial Divine Qi, his originally rough and chaotic breathing gradually becoming steady and long.

Suddenly—

A scorching aura like a burning sky came from the night sky above his head without warning, as if a scorching sun had suddenly fallen from the nine heavens, the high temperature burning the air of the entire dense forest until it was slightly distorted.

"Hm?!"

The black-robed man looked up abruptly, the pair of scarlet eyes under his hood instantly shrinking to pinpoints.

He saw a huge "Big" character-shaped fire seal descending silently from the sky, the red-gold flames dragging a long tail of fire in the night, like the descent of divine punishment.

"That old thing? How could he possibly find me!"

The image of the gray-clothed old man who had ambushed him with a fire seal in the water mist at the top of Thick Earth Peak flashed through the black-robed man's mind.

However, there was no time for him to think more.

The fire seal had already pressed down from the air like a mountain of fire, shrouding all his paths of retreat.

He roared, his pale blue Primordial Divine Qi and cold killing intent erupting, condensing into a dark blue water curtain above his head to meet the unstoppable red-gold fire seal.

Boom—!!!

A loud noise like muffled thunder exploded in the dense forest.

The red-gold and dark blue lights collided fiercely, the resulting air waves uprooting trees within a hundred meters, which were then instantly burned to ash by the scorching high temperature that followed.

Charred broken trees lay everywhere, and the flames remaining on the ground were still licking the soil with a hissing sound.

The next instant.

A figure burst out from the red-gold heat waves that had not yet dissipated, stumbling onto a rock that had been scorched black.

The black-robed man's appearance now was more than ten times more wretched than when he was at Thick Earth Peak.

His black robe was burned full of holes, the remnants of his hood hanging on his shoulders, revealing the face he had never shown before.

It was a fierce face with a fleshy look, appearing to be about forty or fifty years old, with a terrifying scar on his brow.

At this moment, this fierce face was scorched black by the red-gold flames, his left cheek was still emitting green smoke, and his whole body exuded a pungent burnt smell, as if he had just been fished out of a steel-smelting furnace.

"Ugh..."

Taking this fire seal head-on instantly triggered the hidden injuries in his body caused by Luo Song.

A fishy sweetness surged in his throat; he gritted his teeth, wanting to endure it, but in the end, he couldn't suppress the surging blood, opening his mouth to spit out a spray of bright red blood, which splashed onto the charred soil, a shocking sight.

"Bastard!!! How dare you..."

The killing intent in his eyes was boiling; he looked up in a rage, about to curse, but the curse stopped abruptly as soon as it left his mouth.

His pupils froze the moment he saw the scene above his head.

Sure enough, the one who ambushed him was still that gray-clothed old man who had been playing dead at the top of Thick Earth Peak and had suddenly erupted in the water mist.

But what made the black-robed man's hair stand on end was the old man's posture at this moment.

He was stepping on the light breeze, suspended in mid-air, his robes fluttering in the night wind, looking down at him from above.

"You can fly?! How is this possible..."

The intense killing intent in the black-robed man's eyes, which had almost condensed into substance, was completely swallowed by overwhelming horror at this instant.

That was not light-body technique.

It was truly standing in the sky.

This was something even a Primordial Realm martial artist couldn't do.

The scene before him completely exceeded his cognition.

"This Tianqing Sect... really has something strange, damn it..."

The black-robed man's heart trembled violently, and the image of the flaming figure who had been chasing him and hacking wildly even at the moment of death at the top of Thick Earth Peak flashed through his mind involuntarily.

That madman was already like a monster!

Now, to make matters worse, another even more evil old man who could fly had come.

Without the slightest hesitation, he turned and ran, leaping directly into the depths of the dense forest.

He pushed his movement technique to the limit, his figure dragging a blurred afterimage between the trees, dead leaves flying and broken branches splashing everywhere he passed.

"Oh?!"

Jiang Ye stood in mid-air, his fire eyes piercing through the night and the cover of layers of branches and leaves, seeing the figure fleeing in a wretched state clearly.

He had originally thought that this person would be ashamed and angry after being ambushed by him and would fight to the death.

He didn't expect this Primordial Realm martial artist to run away without even finishing a harsh word.

"However, in a place like this, how could you possibly escape."

Watching the other party's figure leap into the dense forest, Jiang Ye raised a cold arc at the corner of his mouth, his ten fingers flying as he formed several complex seals.

"Green Vine Binding Spirit Seal!"

A mass of green true qi, rich to the point of being almost viscous, erupted from Jiang Ye's palm, the wood-attribute power full of vitality spreading out like ripples from his palm, sweeping across the entire dense forest.

The next instant, the grass and trees under the black-robed man's feet seemed to hear some irresistible command, crazily winding toward him.

The thick trunks of century-old ancient trees closed in from all directions like giant pythons, and the seemingly fragile vines and wild grasses on the ground grew wildly at an astonishing speed, the thinnest weeds becoming as tough as steel cables in this instant, densely weaving into a net from which there was no escape.

"Damn it... what kind of move is this..."

The black-robed man's scarlet eyes shrank violently, his pale blue Primordial Divine Qi erupting, shaking the dozens of vines that had first wrapped around his ankles into powder.

However, just as he shattered one batch, more and denser grass and trees surged up from all directions, the vines wrapping tighter and tighter, the branches pressing lower and lower, as if the entire forest had come alive at this moment, viewing him as an alien that must be eradicated.

The black-robed man gritted his teeth, his Primordial Divine Qi pouring out crazily as if it were free, clearing all the grass and trees within several meters.

Then, not daring to stay for even another breath, he tapped his foot hard, his figure rushing out of the dense forest like an arrow from a bow, heading straight toward a craggy rock mountain not far away.

Before he could steady his figure.

The seal in Jiang Ye's hand changed again.

From the vibrant green wood power, it instantly switched to the heavy and deep earth-attribute power, yellow true qi surging out from his palm, carrying a heavy aura that suppressed all things:

"Black Tortoise Mountain-Shaking Seal!"

Rumble—

In the black-robed man's unbelievable, horrified eyes, the entire rock mountain was actually lifted from the depths of the earth as if by an invisible giant hand, pressing down toward him fiercely.

The huge shadow of the mountain covered his head, blocking every bit of moonlight, the collapsing rubble pouring down like a rainstorm, smashing deep pits into the ground.

"What—!!!"

The black-robed man had no time to dodge, could only grit his teeth and raise his arms, pouring all the remaining Primordial Divine Qi in his body into his arms, forcibly carrying this blow that felt like Mount Tai pressing down on his head.

Although the rock mountain was blocked in mid-air by his Primordial Divine Qi, the terrifying impact penetrated his body, triggering all the hidden injuries caused by Luo Song, and the charred hole in his abdomen split open again.

Bright red blood burst out from several wounds at the same time, splashing all over the ground.

This wasn't over yet.

At the same instant he was struggling to resist the rock mountain with his arms, the ground under his feet suddenly split open a thin crack silently.

Hiss!!!

A dark red figure suddenly burst out from it, its speed as fast as dark red lightning shot from the depths of hell.

It was none other than the mutated fire centipede Jiang Ye kept, Little Fire.

The little guy raised its head, its two pairs of sickle-like deep red mandibles glowing with a faint cold light in the moonlight, and it bit down hard on the black-robed man's exposed thigh.